Steering-wheel for automobiles and other motor-vehicles.



F. I. HODGE. STEERING WHEEL-FOE AUTOMOBILES AND OTHER'MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLIOATION FILED DEC. 30, 1911.

Patented Nov. 12, 1912.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY FRED I. HODGE, OF MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT.

STEERIiTG-WHEEL FOR AUTOMOFILES AND OTHER MOTOR-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12,1912.

Application filed December 30, 1911. Serial No. 668,787.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRED I. House, a citi-' zen of the United States, residing at Middletown, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Steering-Wheel for Automobiles and other Motor-Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

' The invention relates to improvements in steeringwheels for automobiles, trucks and various other motor vehicles.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of steering wheels for automobiles and other motor vehicles, and to provide a simple, eflicient and coinparatively inexpensive steering head or wheel of great strength and durability, which will not warp or split and which will afiord a firm and secure grip and prevent the hands of a chauffeur from slipping without necessitating wrapping the rim with tape, cord or the like.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended; it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction, within the scope of thecla'ims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawing :-Figure 1 is' a plan View of a steering wheel, constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the steering wheel,

showing the same before the spiral wire grip is applied. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the same, the dove-tailed portions of the rim being sprung apart. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is. a detail plan View partly in section, illustrating another form of the invention.

Like numerals of reference designate cor: responding parts in all the figures 0f the drawing.

In the accompanying drawing in .which is illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, the steering wheel comprises a central hub 1, spokes 2 and a rim 3, which supports a spiral wire grip 4E. The hub 1,

the spokes 2 and the rim, which are met erably formed integral, may be constructed of any suitable material, and the spokes are preferably curved, as shown, to present a steering wheel of the conventional form, but they may be constructed in any other preferred manner, and they are provided with enlarged outer portions 5 adjacent to the rim of the wheel.

The rim of thewheel, which is shownrelatively thin and flat in the accompanying drawing, may be round, as shown at 1 in Fig. 6 of the drawing or any other preform shoulders for engaging the coils to prevent any movement of the same on the rim of the wheel, are arranged to suit the spiralcharacter of the wire grip, the seats at the outer edge of the rim being located opposite the intervals or spaces between the seats at the inner edge of therim. The inner grooves or notches are located between the spokes 2 of the wheel, and the enlarged portions 5 of the spokes are provided with arcuate series of perforations 8, which receive the adjacent. coils of the spiral wire gg grip and complete the inner annular series of seats for the said coils.

The rim 3 is split adjacent to one of the spokes, and one of the ends formed by the split is provided with a dove-tailed projection 9, which fits in a dove-tailed recess 10, of the other end of the rim, when the two ends are in alinement. formed by the split portion of the rimis adapted to be sprung beyond the other end a suiiicient distance to permit the spiral wire grip to be wound in place on the rim, and after the wire is arranged on the rim, the sprung portion of the latter is per -mitted to return to its normal position with the dovetailed lug in engagement wit-h the dovetailed recess. The spiral wire will retain the dove-tailed portions in their interlocked relation. -After the spiral wire grip has been fed OJ' Y 0uIld on the rim of the wheel, the ends 11 of the wire, which are beveled, are placed in the same hole or per- One ofthe ends circling the rim, the latter supporting the innelf'and outer portions of the coils of the spiral grip through the entire periphery of the avheel and being provided with seats receiving and maintaining the coils of the grip in spaced relation, whereby the coils are maintained in fixed relation to form a rigid grip for preventing the hands from slipping.

2-. A steering wheel of this class described including a hub, spokes, a rim provided at its inner and'outer peripheries with grooves or no ches forming inner and outer series of seats, said rim being. also provided at the outer ends of the spokes with perforations completing the inner series of seats, and a spiral Wire grip arranged on the rim with it-S GOilS in the seats formed by the grooves or notches and the perforations, whereby the coils are maintained in fixed relation to provide a rigid grip.

3. A steering wheel of the class described including a hub, spokes, a rim provided at its inner and outer peripheries with grooves or notches forming inner and outer series of seats, said rim being also provided at the outer ends of the spokes with perforations class described completing the inner series of seats, and a spiral wire grip arranged on the rim with its coils in the stats formed by the grooves or notches and the perforations, whereby the coils are maintained in fixed rclation to provide a rigid grip, the terminals of the wire of the grip being beveled and fitted against each other ancl secured together in one of said perforations;

4. A steering wheel of the class described including spokes, and a flat rim provided at its inner and outer edges with seats, and a spiral wire grip arranged on the rim with its coils in the seats thereof, said rim being split between the spokes to enable the terminals formed by the splitto be sprung apart to permit the spiral wire grip to be.wound on the rim. I

5. A/ steering wheel of the classdescribed including spokes, and a flat rim provided at its inner and outer edges with seats, and a spiral wire grip arranged on the rim with its coils in the seats thereof, said rim being split between the spokes to enable the terminals formed bythe split to be sprung apart to permit the spiral wire grip to be wound on the rim, one of the terminals of the rim being provided with a dove-tailed lug and the other having a dove-tailed recess receiving the lug when the terminals are in theiixnormal position. A

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own, I'have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FRED I. HODGE. Witnesses:

ELLswoR'rH C. Hnoens, CLARINDA A. Hansen. 

